Recent reviews by why me oerple

The *game* is great, but being able to actually get into a match, let alone for the heist and difficulty you want, is so painful that I can't recommend anyone to spend money on this.
While I have a lot of things to say about the actual game, of equal amounts of praise and constructive criticism, it's much less important than simply having the ability to play it in the first place. So to keep my review short, to put the attention on where it matters most:

To Starbreeze, or Deep Silver, whoever is responsible for the "always online" model for this game, please reconsider.

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Edit, September 30th, 2023:

The servers seem more stable right now, especially in comparison to the game being almost completely unplayable for the first three days of launch. However, server stability is still a major issue, as there are still times I am having difficulty getting into a game (including solo lobbies), and even times where I am being disconnected during a game.

I wish that Steam allowed reviews to have a "neutral/mixed" recommendation, since that's currently the most accurate way I can describe how I feel about the game - all of it, not just the server fiasco. There's a great foundation here, the flow of the game is really good, heists are challenging, and any losses I've had don't feel unfair. The weapons feel really nice, enemies are fun, and there's a large amount of depth to the mechanics that I think could be fine-tuned further to encourage everyone to be able to make unique playstyles without resorting to guides.
But there's a lot of issues here and there, from not being able to see numerical weapon stats (and arguably the two most important stats are completely hidden, those being ammo pickup rate and armor penetration), the game not explaining how enemy armor works, not explaining how hostages/civilians influence enemy behavior, general balance issues (the biggest being how doctor bags need far more skill point investment than the armor bag to be worth taking), and some really, really unfinished-looking and clunky menus.

I think it will get better with updates, and is a decently enjoyable game for those who already like cooperative horde shooters, specifically those which don't have an extreme emphasis on sticking together as a cohesive four player team (for example, Deep Rock Galactic, but not, say, Vermintide).
However, I would still tell the average person to save their money, at least for now.

Edit: Steam is having a hard time accepting my edit for some reason, hopefully it works this time
Denuvo is removed so I'm changing my review to positive. This game is a technical marvel and a great power fantasy. The first game in years to put a visible smile on my face while playing. I'll still be wary of Denuvo's eventual reimplementation, but so long as it only installs for those playing Battlemode, I'm satisfied.


I didn't pay 60 dollars for a rootkit.

I love the game, but I don't love only being able to play it for less than two months before it installs malware on my PC.

Very, very good coop rougelite that emphasizes smart play, game knowledge, and projectile dodging.

Over the course of your playtime, you'll evolve from a puny idiot baby running blindly around a planet that wants to kill you, to an amalgamation of odd random objects and makeshift weapons that collectively turn you guy who smacks idiot babies with the force of a freight train, just by looking in their general direction.

I'm mainly writing this for the bonus in the current sale event.

Very well-constructed gimmick fighting game with so much polish, I hate to label it as a gimmick fighter.
Incredible soundtrack (Hideki Naganuma pitched in, the main composer for Jet Set Radio), artstyle, visual and audio feedback during gameplay, and very snappy load times make it easy to forget you're playing a game.
Compared to Lethal League 1, this game is also much more mechanically deep, while also more forgiving for new players so that anybody can have fun with a few rounds of murderball, even if they're getting stomped.

However, I do have a few minor gripes (that I've also only noticed because I like the game so much):
-In online play, certain sound queues are handled client-side when they should be server side, which means KO sounds will misleadingly play when your opponent is, in fact, still alive.
-Some characters do not have alternate model skins available, which is sad for anyone who mains them. (Recent developer update states that this is being addressed, and Jet in particular is getting an alt. model skin next patch)
-Arcade mode is too long for how easy it is, and this is likely because of bot programming
-About bot programming, bots either feel like they don't understand what a video game is, are really good but occaisionally let the ball hit them to be fair, or feel like they're cheating. Stick to the multiplayer once you've gotten a grip on the game, as bot matches get stale *very* quickly.

Edit 2: This game now works on my PC after a hotfix released one day after the game's launch. The stuff below is no longer applicable to my review. Thank you for a fast fix, devs! So far I'm really enjoying the game, and will update the review again once I have a more developed opinion.


Edit: I should have prefaced this before in this review - This is only about my experience with the game. I've seen plenty of people who are able to play and enjoy the game just fine, and only a few others who are experiencing issues similar to mine. Either way, I cannot play due to a game-breaking bug with no currently working fixes, and I view this as a major issue.

Simply put, the game does not work for me. The menus are fine, the music is pretty good, the concept of the game is interesting, but the game itself does not work at all.
As soon as I try to enter the game, neither keyboard + mouse nor my Xbox 360 controller works to play the game, which are both the recommended control types for playing. I cannot move my ship whatsoever in local VS mode, and I cannot progress past textboxes while in-game. I have tried pressing every single key and button to see if some sort of interaction button has a strange default bind that isn't acknowledged in the controls menu, but nothing works.
The game also enters a fully softlocked state for me whenever I enter the game, as trying to exit out to the main menu triggers the menu music and a loading icon to appear, but nothing else happens. Oddly enough, you can pause again in this state despite the game being paused already, and I cannot select any of the options in the glitched pause menu that appears if you pause while exiting to the main menu.

I want to like this game, but it's very hard to do so when the only part of it that works is the menu.

As of June 8, 2017, Payday 2 is now rid of a DLC swamp and is temporarily under a free-to-keep promotion for the first five million copies or until June 21. June 8 sees the introduction of Ultimate Edition, a content pack that costs (at most) 45 USD and completes anyone's DLC collection for the game.

While the community still feels some of the frustrations of the stat-boosting skin fiasco that was Crimefest 2015, the company primarily responsible for the game, OVERKILL, has done a whole lot of work to fix the issues from two years prior while still introducing plenty of new (paid and free) content.

Payday 2 is a hybrid-genre game that blends together the Coop Horde Shooter, RPG, and Stealth genres into one package. There are also seven difficulties currently in the game, and, while confusing at first, do a good job of allowing any skill level to play the game, and play it well for their chosen difficulty. The most notorious difficulty, One Down, focuses the game into an experience meant for only the best players, and will chew up and spit out anyone who isn't quite up to the task.

The current skills and weapons systems are made specifically to let all players fulfill their desired niches, be it a complete tank with an LMG and grenade launcher, an extremely fast light or no armor wearing pistolero, a team medic who can shout so much confidence into their teammates that bullet wounds are instantaneously healed, or perhaps a careful plan-oriented player who lays down traps for enemies to walk into while simultaneously wielding a minigun. It's all fair game, just about any combination of skills, weapons, and perk decks will allow a heist to be successful.

However, there still are some balancing issues that choke the game up for both new and old players. Some skills (such as Unseen Strike), perk decks (such as Yakuza), all but six melee weapons (out of 60+) and plenty of guns are either directly outclassed or just aren't good when compared to other options.

The game also isn't very friendly to new players as a whole, but this has changed some with the additions of two short tutorials and some (mostly useless) loading screen hints. Many new players remain confused in general about how to play or what to do, evident when seeing extremely low-level players joining into One Down heists, likely because they either expect to be carried or just don't understand that their character is simply not strong enough to play on that difficulty yet. There's also the many, many instances of public stealth lobbies turning sour because these same low level players join in and make one, just one, mistake that ruins what could have been a perfect thirty minute endeavor and over one million experience points. Because of this, many experienced players will kick low levels on the spot just for being low level, providing these players with no lessons at all on how to get better.

If you're a new player reading this, please:
-Stick to lower difficulties until you feel comfortable moving up, or try hosting your own game to try the higher ones
-Ask if it's safe to join in when the lobby is still in stealth
-Remember to equip your perk deck. These help greatly, and cost no experience or in-game money to get.
-If you see a player in a loud heist with low detection risk and a suit, they're aware of it! Low detection risk can give players extra dodge and critical hit chances!

All-in-all, Payday 2 is an enjoyable game that gives players plenty of reasons and ways to play it. Despite the blunders of the game's past and some glitches here and there, the game underneath is very thorough and has plenty of deep mechanics.

Also make sure to pray to Papa Almir before every safe opening in hopes to get a legendary skin.

I'm bad at this game.
10/10

Game crashes whenever I try to join a game.
I get butthurt.
7.8/10 too many chickens.